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14 November 2011

Country Is Where You Find It, Part II

Mrs. G and I had the all too rare chance to hit the honey spots together today. She generally couldn't care less about the unfathomable minutia of menswear, but she has a dead eye for the good stuff in spite of this. She saved me the trouble of rifling through the outerwear today by scavenging this prime piece:

Forgive the dreadful and misleading yellow incandescent lighting of these photos. I've learned to take my photos early in the day in natural light, but I couldn't wait until tomorrow to prattle on about this one. A vintage 1960s mid-thigh length raglan sleeved balmacaan coat in a gorgeous, and very British, tweed.

Olive green/brown/white large district check with rust/navy overcheck. Beautifully woven and soft as anything...

Incredibly precise pattern matching. You can hardly even see the pockets...

...or the sleeve tabs.

An old, and highly sought after, piece from the now sadly bygone Invertere. 20% cotton in the fabric, must explain the super softness.

For the sadly bygone Rogers Peet Company. Rogers Peet had stunning clothes of a higher level of quality than many of the more commonly pined for traditional American stores, not unlike the holy church of Andover Shop. I'm always surprised they aren't mentioned more often in the nerdly world of online menswear fetishism.

9 comments:

Damn. I saw one of these in a thrift shop in Vilnius Lithuania and didn't come away with it as it was too big (my guess a 42 reg). Very similar colour, light tan ground and orange and green stripes, Raglan sleeves, leather buttons, orange wool three quarter lining from Simpsons of Picadilly. They wanted around 35euros for it. My bet is it is still there.

Nice, G! I found a very similar one in Harris tweed a few weeks ago—it could practically be cut from the same pattern, except it's probably about 8 inches longer. You beat me on the price; I think mine was $12.

I was wondering about something, though: when I try it on, the shoulders fit well enough, but I feel like a long clapper in a big wool bell. Should I have it taken in to the point where it still fits over a jacket or a big sweater, or is that just how these guys were meant to fit?

Loose and baggy is the way they fit. Balmacaan coats are meant to be a top layer worn over many Winter clothes. Of course, having it be 67 degrees in November isn't helping, but it will be cold someday....maybe...I hope.